Dune's Influence on Armored Core VI

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon deviates from its predecessors in some interesting ways, namely in taking influences from Frank Herbert's Sci-Fi staple, Dune.

[@LambFriedRice]

Excited to see you branch out to other AC games. Can't wait to see you cover Animal Crossing, Asseto Corsa, and Ace Combat, among others.

[@asllen3310]

For unknown reasons, I love the "war for resources" theme. I like Dune and Armoured Core VI and realised both have similar things. Also, there is another game that has the same theme, and I love it: Arknights.

[@aakarshasoka6335]

Yo, we have similar tastes!

[@wolfiewoo3371]

This game is perfect. Gameplay, story, characters, themes; it's like a dream come true

[@thetruestwaffle47]

This is peak narrative review.

[@skivvac]

Just wanted to say I only found your channel a couple months ago and you've very quickly become one of my favourite YTers. I watched all your old vids within a few days and now I'm always hype whenever I see another of your vids in my feed, keep up the good shit man.

[@ToroNero]

Exactly the same for me

[@sosaysjay]

That is very kind of you, thank you

[@OmegaUberDeathbot]

“The worm is the spice! The spice is the worm!”

[@johnernest5843]

Just wanna appreciate how you reference the Lynch movie, the Villanueve movie, and cite direct passages from the Herbert novel in order to make comparisons. Plus, you got it right immediately that the Spice allows for safe navigation, and not the actual FTL mechanics. Very well done video, and super informative!

[@malcolmcooke7131]

Did a double take when I saw this notification. Love to see your take on expanded topics!

[@VictorIV0310]

Another faction you neglected to mention that also has some parallels to Dune is the Planetary Closure Administration (PCA), a military organization tasked with enforcing the quarantine around Rubicon 3 since the Fires of Ibis. With its heavy firepower and an imposing sense of authority that everyone on Rubicon-3 begrudgingly acknowledges, the PCA comes across as rather similar to House Corrino. Its powerful arsenal is also akin to the Imperium's Sadaukar in terms of threat-level compared to what the corporations and RLF have.

[@ToxicallyMasculinelol]

I feel like they got some inspiration not only from Dune but also from Doom (2016). The energy source role of Coral, both in technology and in the narrative, is very similar to the role of Argent Energy in Doom (2016).

[@ToxicallyMasculinelol]

Also it has the same visual design language. Argent Energy is portrayed as this red plasma stuff; so is Coral. And both have this kinda dark story to their origins where it seems too good to be true, and that's because it is - Argent Energy is gas stolen from Hell, while Coral is... well, you know. Trying to avoid spoilers in the comments.

[@castlewhale4746]

@@ToxicallyMasculinelol Doesn't stop there, Argent isn't "just" stolen hell gas. It's hell gas created by furnacing the souls of humanity through an extremely advanced super torture tower built by higher beings to be used by demons that extracts pain and suffering from a soul as energy in the most agonizing ways possible. Coral is more of a "naturally existing material", however it happens to alongside being an excellent fuel source also be an excellent carrier/transmitter of raw information. It is this ability for Coral to contain information that allows it to take on the properties that it does, namely, its ability to provide a substrate for purely information based lifeforms such as Ayre to come into existence in the wake of the Fires of Ibis. The ignited coral burned away the physical bodies of the former Rubiconians, but the conscious intelligences of said humans (or in other words the INFORMATION of said humans) were swept up in the coral flow because of it's incredible effectiveness at information carrying. So I disagree that both glowy red plot central energy forms are "too good to be true", coral is much less maliciously produced than argent, and there really aren't any downsides to responsibly using coral either; one of the most important characteristics of coral is in its' ability to nearly infinitely regenerate itself instantaneously so long as it's not pushed past a critical limit (as evidenced by the coral generators and the fact that when you run all the way out of energy it will restock itself instantly to full). The coral will be used as energy and then simply replenish itself to full from whatever coral remains. Larger C weapons exceed this limit of corals natural regeneration and hence "Burn the coral as fuel", using it up before it can naturally replenish itself, which is why Ayre gets so upset upon seeing the C Spider. Responsible use of coral is not a bad thing, where as even the most responsible use of argent energy still comes at the cost of the torture and deaths of countless human souls.

[@solaireofastora7081]

Thanks for being the only channel to make a video comparing these two masterpieces!

[@greatgreentea]

always a good day when he uploads

[@kwisatzhaderach9591]

Hahaha I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought this was Dune with mechs.

[@HYDRARMOR]

AC 6 is phenomenal! I love it a lot

[@benevolentduck9598]

Coral is basically Dust from Endless Space except it's red

[@Sorain1]

... Really not true. Dust has no intelligence, though like Coral it can host intelligence. Dust can actually do a lot _more_ than Coral can, Dust is crazy stuff man...

[@benevolentduck9598]

@@Sorain1 well... I guess you're right

[@Foogi9000]

For some clarification Coral is an organism, specifically a hivemind that grows exponentially in a vacuum. It however was prone to mutations, these mutations made it conscious, for lack of a better term. The researchers at the Institute where this was happening saw this and freaked out. Professor Nagai came to realize that if the Coral was to get out of control it would cause a wide-spread collapse of humanity and civilization so he instigated the Fires of Ibis sacrificing himself and wiping out a majority of the Coral in the process. However in their desperate attempt to destroy Coral they also wiped out most life in the solar system, many millions of humans included. For a while people thought it was all gone. But on Rubicon the setting of the game Coral still remained. Eventually Corporations found out and thus did humanity return to open pandora's box again. I mentioned that the Fires of Ibis wiped out millions of people but that's not completely accurate. Those who were caught in the Fires of Ibis became Coral itself and are as Ayre puts it "A Rubiconian without a body". It seems like becoming one with the Coral changes you, you lose the simple pains and pleasures of being human. It's also interesting that you mentioned Dolmayan as he's a very interesting figure, in his youth he was a doser. He had used so much Coral that he was able to make contact with his own Coral voice Seria, For a while he was all for symbiosis but eventually he grew afraid of it. Because it wouldn't just affect him, it would affect humanity as a whole. Mass symbiosis with an entity he and by extension you as a human fundamentally can not understand. You wouldn't be human if you could. So he refuses; founds the RLF and his Coral mysticism and he declares "Coral abide with Rubicon, Coral abide within us all, For no one should cast the die.

[@meddlingmage23]

I thought the Coral is the souls of the people that died in the fires. So it became like Lifestream from FF7. I understood that Allmind was gonna take control of the coral after dispersing it to take control of humanity.

[@Tortle-Man]

It’s left intentionally vague as to whether or not Coral voices are people lost in the coral or organism in their own right.

[@castlewhale4746]

@@Tortle-Man I think the most fitting answer is that it's both. The coral itself is not a living organism, it is just a raw material that conducts information and energy extraordinarily well. It is through this "information conducting substrate" that purely information based lifeforms such as Ayre come to be. The first coral lifeforms were likely the human consciousnesses swept up in the Fires of Ibis, when their bodies were burnt away the consciousness/souls, or in other words the "information" became one with the coral. It would also likely be possible that second generation (non Fires of Ibis victims) coral life forms have since come into existence with no human consciousness as the basis as the coral flow already contains information based lifeforms and we know coral flocks to other coral; the raw material reproduces with itself exponentially and indefinitely, surely the information based lifeforms contained within are also able to reproduce in some manner. It is entirely possible that intelligences have naturally evolved using the coral as substrate alongside it sweeping up human souls during the Fires of Ibis. What I am most unsure of is whether or not Ayre herself is one of these "former humans burned" or one of the "naturally evolved" coral intelligences. Either way she would have "family" either from remembering the souls of her former human family, or by recognizing the sentient coral waves that generated her own information wave.

[@meddlingmage23]

Idk, when you see the full story, it's not just a resource - it's like The Lifestream in FF7 that gets used as Mako energy for weapons. They're using the ppl's souls.

[@nikabosmit3884]

Looking forward for more Armored Core videos with plot and game mechanics analysis, like You do on Asassin Creed games.

[@matteomauriello7631]

Bloody hell how i managed to Never notice It !

[@Nagad420]

Just found your channel and enjoying the content very much, but I just beat balteus last night and boy is this game FUN. Very first AC game I've ever played so I didn't have many expectations but it beat them still

[@hacman8732]

I know this isn’t your typical AC content but please do more I love your analysis and AC6 imo is one of the more symbolically weighty with its imagery as ACFA my previous favorite AC game.

[@JoshWyatt-ku3yl]

The idea of Coral being a living power source reminds me a lot of Mako from FFVII. The setup is definitely more Dune than Final Fantasy though

[@1984sangkai]

The worm but at the end. 😂

[@abyssaldision8272]

Cool video, hadn’t really considered this as my only touch stones with dune are both films. Very interesting ties. I was wondering about the story pilots builds and emblems tell. There’s the obvious allegiances but handler Walter and Freud have a strangely similar emblems. Tho the hands are inverted, they both kind of share these bands, handler Walter grasping at these threads and Freud seems to have let go? Wondering if anyone else thought this

[@FKGafgarion]

Love dune fav of all time. Check out Bullet Storm NG++ shreds in pvp.

[@jeast9648]

Ac 6 is one of my favorite games now. I really hope they do dlc.

[@flavorgod]

COAM

[@ManthonyHiggs]

No mention of the giant sandworm?

[@sosaysjay]

The last 5 seconds

[@ManthonyHiggs]

@@sosaysjay ok fair, i clicked away when I saw the credits

[@18jay]

10:17 do the other video! On this channel!

[@bombomos]

Id say Eva has a bigger influence. Dune is just the tip of the ice berg

[@michaelelmes2135]

The world and atmosphere of this game is so attractive to me, but I don't know if I like the look of the gameplay itself. Not a big mech guy

[@sosaysjay]

I really enjoy the game, but it revolves heavily around its gameplay loop of building mechs and trying them out, like the older Armored Cores. It’s definitely a niche interest, and there’s no shame in not meshing with something. But if you were ever to play a mech game, this would probably be the one to pick up!

[@michaelelmes2135]

@@sosaysjay for sure, I think I may try it on sale or something. Thanks for the response!

[@botarc]

you want to know how many "I don't like mech that much" people being converted to "I really like Armored Core" people? Short answer: It's A LOT. Including me. Just try the game bro. If you like Sekiro and Bloodborne, there is a high chance you'll like AC6. It has the same DNA in term of satisfaction in beating a hard enemy.

[@michaelelmes2135]

@@botarc you probably right man, there's Just so many games and so little money lol

[@botarc]

@@michaelelmes2135 understandable.

[@Kaino-wo3vc]

Sup bud

[@leesasuki]

to be honest I thought it is more like a cyberpunk setting, using a strong chemical or augment will definitely make cyber human stronger than normal human in everywhere, it sadly has more side effect, and furthermore, people who augment too much will either just lost their humanity as they becoming robot, or just straight up not able to survive the process (in early version of augment) For easier reference, cyberpunk 2077 or its anime, or I was more thinking about the game "Dues Ex"

[@wolfiewoo3371]

Unfortunately, people nowadays don't consider something cyberpunk unless it has holograms, graffiti, robot limbs and neon lights everywhere

[@domovoi_0]

Ac6 is not ac but dark souls of ac. Key ac features are not in ac6. Opposite of what from promised. Shame. Fun ass game tho. Love and blessings!

[@civilwarfare101]

I always wanted to experience the original Dune novel but I kind of just novels to be dull. Audiobooks are better but it's easy to doze off during them since there is no images to pay attention to. So far from my experince with the medium non fiction books seem more interesting even if it is limited. The Disaster Artist and Blood, Sweat and Pixels are some fantastic stuff.

[@bellzeppelin6913]

Coral is a living substance, unlike spice

[@shavedraven]

He mentions that